"to ""The Times"" journalist Ben Macintyre, as ""Diana the Fascist, Jessica the Communist, Unity the Hitler-lover; Nancy the Novelist; Deborah the Duchess and Pamela the unobtrusive poultry connoisseur"". The family traces its origins in Northumberland back to the time of the Norman conquest. In the Middle Ages they had been Border Reivers based in Redesdale. The main family line had seats at Mitford Castle and Mitford Old Manor House prior to Mitford Hall in 1828. The sisters achieved notoriety for their controversial but stylish lives as young people, then for their public political divisions between communism and fascism. Nancy and"
"""It was the most wonderful and beautiful [day] of my life. I am so happy that I wouldn't mind a bit, dying. I'd suppose I am the luckiest girl in the world. For me he is the greatest man of all time"". Hitler had also become smitten with the young blonde British student. He was struck by her curious connections to the Germanic culture including her middle name, Valkyrie. Mitford's grandfather, Algernon Freeman-Mitford, had been a friend of Richard Wagner, one of Hitler's idols, and had translated the works of Houston Stewart Chamberlain, another inspiration for Hitler. Dalley says, ""Hitler"
"at a time when there was little public appetite for lighthearted war satire, and the book was a commercial failure. In April 1940 Mitford suffered her second miscarriage. Shortly afterwards Rodd, who had been commissioned into the Welsh Guards, departed overseas.<ref> Nancy Mitford Nancy Freeman-Mitford (28 November 1904 – 30 June 1973), known as Nancy Mitford, was an English novelist, biographer and journalist. One of the renowned Mitford sisters and one of the ""Bright Young People"" on the London social scene in the inter-war years, she is best remembered for her novels about upper-class life in England and France and"
"Mitford, a sixth cousin (twice removed) to the Mitford family's ""Mitford Sisters"", and a distant cousin of author Mary Russell Mitford. They had seven daughters: All of the girls were named after their mother, Margaret. Lord Amherst died in London, in January 1909, aged 73, and was succeeded in the barony according to the special remainder by his eldest daughter Mary. He was the great-grandfather of American heir William Amherst Vanderbilt Cecil, operator of the Biltmore Estate in North Carolina. William Tyssen-Amherst, 1st Baron Amherst of Hackney William Amhurst Tyssen-Amherst, 1st Baron Amherst of Hackney (25 April 1835 – 16"
"Nancy Mitford Nancy Freeman-Mitford (28 November 1904 – 30 June 1973), known as Nancy Mitford, was an English novelist, biographer and journalist. One of the renowned Mitford sisters and one of the ""Bright Young People"" on the London social scene in the inter-war years, she is best remembered for her novels about upper-class life in England and France and for her sharp and often provocative wit. She also established a reputation for herself as a writer of popular historical biographies. Mitford enjoyed a privileged childhood as the eldest daughter of the Hon. David Freeman-Mitford, later 2nd Baron Redesdale. Educated privately,"
"Mitford family The Mitford family is a gentry (minor aristocratic) English family whose main family line had seats at Mitford, Northumberland. Several heads of the family served as High Sheriff of Northumberland. A junior line, with seats at Newton Park, Northumberland, and Exbury House, Hampshire, descends via the historian William Mitford (1744–1827) and were twice elevated to the British peerage, in 1802 and 1902, under the title Baron Redesdale. The Mitford sisters were William Mitford's great-great-great-granddaughters. The sisters, six daughters of David Freeman-Mitford, 2nd Baron Redesdale, and Sydney Bowles, became celebrated, and at times scandalous, figures that were caricatured, according"
"the London home during the Season of the Mitford family, who acquired the lease on the house for £28,000 after sale of Asthall Manor, their country house in Oxfordshire. The Mitfords were forced to give up Rutland Gate in the midst of the Great Depression, and it was initially rented from them by the Earl of Elgin, and subsequently by an American woman, a Mrs Warren Pearl. Deborah Devonshire (née Mitford) later recalled in her 2010 memoir ""Wait for Me!...Memoirs of the Youngest Mitford Sister"" that her mother was annoyed by Pearl's ""painting everything, including the floors, green"". Jessica Mitford"
"Pamela Mitford Pamela ""Pam"" Freeman-Mitford (25 November 1907 – 12 April 1994) was one of the Mitford Sisters. Pamela Freeman-Mitford was born on 25 November 1907, the second daughter of David Freeman-Mitford, 2nd Baron Redesdale, and Sydney Bowles (1880–1963). John Betjeman, who for a time was in love with her, referred to her in his unpublished poem, ""The Mitford Girls"", as the ""most rural of them all"", due to the fact she preferred to live quietly in the country. They met when she was managing Biddesden in Hampshire, the house of her brother-in-law, Bryan Guinness, 2nd Baron Moyne. In 1936"
"years in prison, she was afflicted by regular bouts of migraines. In 1981, she underwent a successful surgery to remove a brain tumour. She convalesced at Chatsworth House, the residence of her sister Deborah. In the early 1990s, she was also successfully treated for skin cancer. In later life she also suffered from deafness. Mitford attended the funeral of René de Chambrun, the son-in-law of Vichy France Prime Minister Pierre Laval, in 2002. Mosley was shunned in the British media for a period after the war and the couple established their own publishing company, Euphorion Books, named after a character"
"youngest of the famous Mitford sisters. As of 2009 the titles are held by their second and only surviving son, Peregrine Cavendish, 12th Duke of Devonshire, who succeeded in 2004. Numerous other members of the Cavendish family have also gained distinction. Lord Henry Cavendish (1673-1700), second son of the first Duke, was Member of Parliament for Derby. Lord James Cavendish (died 1751), third son of the first Duke, also represented this constituency in the House of Commons. Lord Charles Cavendish (1704-1783), second son of the second Duke, was a politician and scientist. His son Henry Cavendish (1731-1810) was an influential"
"of ""The Daily Telegraph"" (16 August 2003), declaring that she was an ""unrepentant Nazi and effortlessly charming."" He, in turn, was assailed three days later, in the same newspaper, by her son and granddaughter. She was portrayed by actress Emma Davies in the 1997 Channel Four TV miniseries, ""Mosley"". Diana Mitford Diana, the Hon. Lady Mosley (17 June 191011 August 2003), born Diana Freeman-Mitford and usually known as Diana Mitford, was one of Britain's noted Mitford sisters. She was first married to Bryan Walter Guinness, heir to the barony of Moyne, and upon her divorce from him married Sir Oswald"
"the English! Out with the Jews! Heil Hitler! P.S. please publish my name in full, I want everyone to know I am a Jew hater."" The letter caused public outrage in Britain but Hitler rewarded her with an engraved golden swastika badge, a private box at the 1936 Berlin Olympics, and a ride in a party Mercedes to the Bayreuth Festival. From this point on, Mitford was inducted into Hitler's inner circle and remained with him for five years. When Hitler announced the Anschluss in 1938, she appeared with him on the balcony in Vienna. She was later arrested in"
"Eustace Reveley Mitford Eustace Reveley Mitford (16 November 1810 – 24 October 1869) was a satirical writer, best known as ""Pasquin"", prominent in the early days of the Colony of South Australia. Mitford was born at St Pancras, London, the third of four sons of barrister John Mitford (1772–1851) of the celebrated Mitford family, and his wife Sarah Mitford née Woodward (1784–1836); his grandparents were the historian William Mitford (1743–1827) and his first wife Frances ""Fanny"" Mitford née Molloy ( –1776). He joined the Royal Navy at an early age, and before long transferred to the Spanish service, and may"
"Century"", and translated, with another Introduction for ""Immanuel Kant"", both by Houston Stewart Chamberlain. Algernon Freeman-Mitford, 1st Baron Redesdale Algernon Bertram Freeman-Mitford, 1st Baron Redesdale, GCVO, KCB, DL (24 February 183717 August 1916) was a British diplomat, collector and writer. Nicknamed ""Barty"", he was the paternal grandfather of the Mitford sisters. Freeman-Mitford was the son of Henry Reveley Mitford (1804–1883) of Exbury House, Exbury, Hampshire and the great-grandson of the historian William Mitford, and was educated at Eton and Christ Church, Oxford. While his paternal ancestors were landed gentry, whose holdings had once included Mitford Castle in Northumberland, his mother"
"Russell Mitford (1787–1865). Mitford was the great-great-great-grandfather of the Mitford sisters, who came to public notice in Britain during the 1920s. William Mitford William Mitford (10 February 1744 – 10 February 1827) was an English Member of Parliament and historian, best known for his ""The History of Greece"" (1784-1810). Mitford was the elder of the two sons of John Mitford, a barrister (died 1761) and his wife Philadelphia Reveley. The Mitford family lived at Exbury near Beaulieu, at the edge of the New Forest. Here, at Exbury House, his father John's property, Mitford was born. He was educated at Cheam"
"the fourth child and third daughter of David Freeman-Mitford, 2nd Baron Redesdale (1878–1958, son of Algernon Freeman-Mitford, 1st Baron Redesdale), and his wife, Sydney (1880–1963), daughter of Thomas Gibson Bowles, MP. She was a first cousin of Clementine Churchill, second cousin of Angus Ogilvy, and first cousin, twice removed, of Bertrand Russell. Mitford was born in Belgravia and raised in the country estate of Batsford Park, then from the age of 10 at the family home, Asthall Manor, in Oxfordshire, and later at Swinbrook House, a home her father had built in the village of Swinbrook. She was educated at"
"said. Algernon died in 1916 and his son David Mitford inherited the property. David was the father of the famous Mitford sisters who remember their time at Batsford with fondness. Nancy Mitford said in her memoirs that when at Batsford they ""ran across country the beautiful bleak Cotswold uplands, starting soon after breakfast when the sun was still a red globe hardly over the horizon and the trees were etched in dark blue against a pale blue, mauve and pinkish sky"". The Mitford family did not stay long at the property because of the large costs in running such a"
"He moved on from here to the ""Tailor's Arms"", which was more central at the head of ""The Side"". Mention of his being there was made in 1834 by William Watson. Eventually Mitford retired, and lived in Oyster Shell Lane (close to Bath lane). He died there on 3 March 1851 at the age of 63. He was buried in Westgate Hill General Cemetery, Arthur's Hill, Newcastle upon Tyne. The main character he seemed to write about was Bob Cranky, a habitual braggart, and written in his 20s. This material includes :- In the early 19th century, as today, there"
"Mary Russell Mitford Mary Russell Mitford (16 December 1787 – 10 January 1855) was an English author and dramatist. She was born at Alresford in Hampshire. She is best known for ""Our Village"", a series of sketches of village scenes and vividly drawn characters based upon life in Three Mile Cross, a hamlet in the parish of Shinfield, near Reading in Berkshire, where she lived. She was the only daughter of Dr George Mitford, or Midford, who apparently trained as a medical doctor, and Mary Russell, a descendant of the aristocratic Russell family who grew up near Jane Austen and"
"Diana Mitford Diana, the Hon. Lady Mosley (17 June 191011 August 2003), born Diana Freeman-Mitford and usually known as Diana Mitford, was one of Britain's noted Mitford sisters. She was first married to Bryan Walter Guinness, heir to the barony of Moyne, and upon her divorce from him married Sir Oswald Mosley, 6th Baronet of Ancoats, leader of the British Union of Fascists. Her second marriage, in 1936, took place at the home of Joseph Goebbels, with Adolf Hitler as guest of honour. Subsequently, her involvement with Fascist political causes resulted in three years' internment during the Second World War."
"Algernon Freeman-Mitford, 1st Baron Redesdale Algernon Bertram Freeman-Mitford, 1st Baron Redesdale, GCVO, KCB, DL (24 February 183717 August 1916) was a British diplomat, collector and writer. Nicknamed ""Barty"", he was the paternal grandfather of the Mitford sisters. Freeman-Mitford was the son of Henry Reveley Mitford (1804–1883) of Exbury House, Exbury, Hampshire and the great-grandson of the historian William Mitford, and was educated at Eton and Christ Church, Oxford. While his paternal ancestors were landed gentry, whose holdings had once included Mitford Castle in Northumberland, his mother (Georgiana) Jemima was a daughter of the courtier the 3rd Earl of Ashburnham, with"
"of 'diversity,' she was the rarest of birds, an exotic creature who rose each morning to become the sun around whom thousands of lives revolved."" Her widower survived her by five years. Two of her four children pre-deceased her. Her surviving daughter, Constantia Romilly, continued the activist tradition, working for the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee, which campaigned for African-American civil rights; she eventually became an emergency room nurse. Romilly had two children with Committee director James Forman: James Forman Jr., a Yale professor, and Chaka Forman, an actor. The author Christopher Hitchens expressed his admiration for Jessica Mitford and praised"
"married to Robert Treuhaft, Doris' law partner. Doris invited Jessica and her husband to join the Communist Party, prompting the latter to reply ""We thought you'd never ask!"" There have been articles speculating that author J.K. Rowling, who considers Mitford her heroine, named her Harry Potter character Dobby the house elf after encountering the name Dobby in Mitford's works. Walker was widowed in 1951, and remarried in 1952, thereby acquiring the additional surname ""Roberson"". Walker was fired from her first law firm, which she attributed to her gender. In the mid-1940s she left legal practice and became a labor organizer"
"July 1996), and Deborah (31 March 1920 – 24 September 2014), later the Duchess of Devonshire. The Mitford children lived at Asthall Manor in Asthall, Oxfordshire, and Unity was educated at St Margaret's School, Bushey. Diana Mosley’s biographer, Jan Dalley, believes that, ""Unity found life in her big family very difficult because she came after these cleverer, prettier, more accomplished sisters."" While another biographer, David Pryce-Jones, added: ""If you come from a ruck of children in a large family, you've got to do something to assert your individuality, and I think through the experience of trying to force her way"
"Blanche were promiscuous, and it is generally accepted by historians and family members that Hozier was not Clemmie's father, although he was registered as such. Blanche told her friend Lady Londonderry, shortly before Clemmie's birth, that the father of the expected child was her own brother-in-law, Bertie Mitford; most historians believe that other candidates for the paternity are more likely. Bertie Mitford's marriage produced five sons and four daughters. His career in government service ended in 1886, when after the death of a cousin he inherited a considerable fortune. A condition of the inheritance was that he adopt the surname"
"her medieval fashion sense. Sullivan got into modeling when she tried out for Elite Model Look following a sports injury and won the regional division of the competition. Sullivan competed in Cycle 11 against thirteen other contestants, ultimately winning the competition. Two other contestants named Brittany (or some variation) also competed in Cycle 11, so Sullivan and Brittney Brown changed their names for the show. Sullivan chose ""McKey"" since her mother was considering naming her McKenzie when she was born and since it was her penname in high school. She plans on continuing to use the name beyond this television"
"family scene altogether. The question of the twins' paternity remained unresolved. One suggested candidate was the writer Wilfrid Scawen Blunt; another was Blanche's brother-in-law, Lord Redesdale, grandfather of the future Mitford sisters. Nellie Hozier grew up in the family's various homes in Seaford on the English south coast, in Dieppe in France, and finally in Berkhamstead where she attended the Girls' High School with her elder sister Clementine. In September 1908 she acted as a bridesmaid at Clementine's wedding to Winston Churchill. At the beginning of the First World War in August 1914, Nellie volunteered as a nursing auxiliary in"
"with headquarters in Forest Gate. Sh! is a small company, employing nine women. Kathryn Hoyle was born in Ilkley, West Yorkshire and grew up with a feminist mother, a free-thinking father and one brother. She attended her local school, Ilkley Grammar, before going on to complete a foundation art course in Bradford and graduating with a degree in Fine Art from The Faculty of Arts and Architecture, Brighton University. Sophie Walters was born in Bracknell, Berkshire and went to Marist Convent Catholic School in Sunninghill, Berkshire. At 17, she started a business and commerce course at Windsor College. Upon completion"
"a chalk line down the middle to divide the room. Jessica's side was decorated with hammer and sickles and pictures of Vladimir Lenin, while Unity's was decorated with swastikas and pictures of Adolf Hitler. Dalley commented ""they were kids virtually, you don't know how much it was just a game, a game that became deadly serious in later life."" Mitford was a debutante in 1932. That same year her elder sister Diana left her husband to pursue an affair with Oswald Mosley who had just founded the British Union of Fascists. Their father was furious at the disgrace and forbade"
"she would ""never marry anyone except Hamish."" In 1932 her plight was overshadowed by a family scandal involving her younger sister Diana, who had married Bryan Guinness in 1928 and was the mother of two young sons. In 1932 Diana deserted her husband to become the mistress of Sir Oswald Mosley, the leader of the British Union of Fascists, himself married with three children. Almost alone of her family, Mitford offered her sister support, regularly visiting her and keeping her up to date with family news and social gossip. Her own love affair with Erskine came to an abrupt end"
"contrasting with the ultimate failure of her relationship with Palewski. From the late 1960s her health deteriorated, and she endured several years of painful illness before her death in 1973. The Mitford family dates from the Norman era, when Sir John de Mitford held the Castle of Mitford in Northumberland. A later Sir John held several important public offices during the late 14th and early 15th centuries, and the family maintained a tradition of public service for many generations. In the 18th century William Mitford was a leading classical historian, responsible for the definitive history of ancient Greece. His great-grandson"
"sister-in-law may have resulted from jealousy. Lady Mosley wrote to her sister, the Duchess of Devonshire, after the death of the Duke of Windsor, ""probably the theory of their [the Windsors'] contemporaries that Cake [a Mitford nickname for the Queen Mother, derived from her delighted exclamation at the party at which Deborah Devonshire first met her] was rather in love with him [the Duke] (as a girl) & took second best, may account for much."" The Duke and Duchess lived in France in the pre-war years. In 1937, they made a high-profile visit to Germany and met Adolf Hitler at"
"a Thutmose III brick circa 1330bc, excavated from the banks of the Nile. Amherst's collection included the lower section, of a 20th Dynasty tomb robbery papyri otherwise described as the Leopold II and Amherst Papyrus, which is in the possession of the Morgan Library & Museum, New York. Lord Amherst of Hackney married Margaret Susan, only child of Admiral Robert Mitford, in 1856. Susan Mitford was a lineal descendant of politician Robert Mitford and Philadelphia Wharton, first cousin (once removed) of poet and journalist John Mitford, third cousin (three times removed) of both English Attorney General Lord Redesdale and William"